


Loop Number XXXX

by Rinea



Category: Conspiracy Research Club (Webcomic)
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Fluff, Heart-to-Heart, One Shot, POV Multiple, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26118757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinea/pseuds/Rinea
Summary: After a freak encounter with a cop, Luna ends up staying with Jamie for the night at his house and they have a heart to heart. Has some early to mid chapter spoilers but isn’t up to current canon as of August 2020! Also contains POV shifts because I just think they’re neat.
Relationships: Luna Gardner & Jaime Taylor
Kudos: 10





	Loop Number XXXX

**(JAMIE'S POV)**

_How many loops had it been now?_ For himself, it was far too many to count. He could say it was over one hundred without a doubt. As for loops with Katya and Luna… it had been a handful, but that handful was really more than he ever wanted her to experience. Not that he wasn’t glad that she was at his side -- he was. But he wished he could have taken care of everything before she, well… they needed to get involved in the loop in the first place. 

Jamie had seen the people he was closest to disappear from his grip hundreds of times, but no matter how many loops passed it never got any easier. He looked out his window, it looked just the same as it did during the last loop, was it the same for them? He couldn’t help but wonder. Shutting his curtains he yawns once more -- _would it even be possible for him to get any rest like this?_

Just as he was about to lay his head on his pillow, a direct message notification catches his eye. “...At this hour, who...?” He mumbles groggily. Tired eyes focusing on the screen as he taps the notification with his finger. Upon seeing the sender he jolts up, any bit of grogginess had almost entirely faded from his system. As for the message: it contained a blurry photo of Luna running from a “cop,” with a caption that pretty much said that she needed help and was near the spot where they usually meet up for school. Of course, it wasn’t written as eloquently but with all the hastily written posts he’d seen Luna write before, he’d basically cracked the code to deciphering her messages. 

He responds back with a quick “on my way,” before heading out posthaste. 

================

**(LUNA'S POV)**

She’s only able to catch a quick glance at her phone, an internal sigh of relief as she knows that he’ll be on his way soon. While she had finally managed to find a hiding spot -- in the bushes -- she’d only be safe for so long until it went looking for her again. As long as she could stay hidden until Jamie got here to help her out of this mess she’d be okay. Even though he taught her some self defense, Luna wasn’t able to get a good in to actually defend herself from the attacker. But then again, she still was still learning judo and wasn’t very good at it… yet. But if it found her before Jamie could, she’d have no choice but to try to defend herself from it on her own. 

If he kept her waiting much longer, she was going to punch him in the arm for sure. Even if it was the middle of the night, he saw her message. Their normal meet up spot wasn’t too far from either of their houses. He should have been here by now… did it bring more backup? Luna wasn’t dumb enough to leave her hiding spot yet, but the thought echoed through her mind. She wasn’t even able to check her phone for entertainment while she waited, less she wanted to give away her position. 

It seemed that she wouldn’t need to hide in the bushes much longer, while Luna couldn’t see it -- she could hear the sound of footsteps followed by the grunts that came with judo slamming someone to the ground. Luna peeks out from the bushes to see Jamie panting next to an unconscious cop, still in his pajamas. “You kept me waiting.” Luna says, shuffling her way out of the bushes she hid in. “You didn’t give me much notice… I ran here as fast as I could.” He replies, glancing from Luna to the cop. “What happened?” 

Luna shuffles around, hands fidgeting inside the pockets of her hoodie. She looks at the cop and then at him. “Can I explain it somewhere else?” She didn’t want to take any chances that they were being watched, nor did she want to risk running into another one of those things as she explained it. “Do you want me to walk you to your house and we can talk there?” He asks. “No, that’s where the root of this problem started.” She’s quick to respond. 

Jamie places a finger on his lip letting out an audible _“hmm”_ sound. “We could go to the school but if there was one of those things… there could be more. There’s… always my house but…” It’s hard to tell in the darkness, but it seems like he’s almost blushing. Almost on instinct she punches his arm -- not as hard as usual but hard enough to get the message across. “Don’t get any weird ideas!” She huffs. “But it's what’s closest and it’s safest so I don’t think we have any other options.”

================

**(JAMIE'S POV)**

Thinking about it more, this is the first time Luna’s ever been to his house. They either met at their usual spot, or he’d meet her at her house and they’d walk together to school that way. He unlocks the door and lets her in first. “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable, I’ll grab you a bottle of UFO syrup soda from the fridge... My room is the first door on the right when you go up the stairs, if you want to change out of your street clothes I have a spare pair of pajamas you can change into and we can wash them… they might be a little big but it’s better than sleeping in clothes covered in dirt.” Jamie’s quick to put on a hospitable face, not wanting Luna to feel uncomfortable in his home after what had happened to her earlier. 

Luna seems a little hesitant first, but shortly after she replies with a “sure, thanks” as she walks into the house and up the stairs. Jamie picks up two soda’s from his refrigerator, and gets the washing machine ready before heading up the stairs himself and knocking on the door. “Can I come in?” He knew better than to just barge in knowing that she could still be changing, that was just asking to get punched into next week. “Yeah, I’m all changed now.” She responds from the other side of the door. “The washing machine is downstairs, I already have it ready so you just need to put your clothes in.”

She just replies with a thanks as she dashes past him and back down the stairs, returning shortly after. He hands her a soda and sits on the bed, “So what happened back there.” Luna moves to sit on the opposite side of him, he does his best to just look her in the eyes but admittedly it’s a bit difficult considering the girl he could say with almost full confidence that he loved was sitting across from him in his spare pajamas. _Damn,_ he really should have thought things out more before he just offered to let her change into them. He places a hand on his cheek, she undeniably looks cute in them, but if he were to say that, he’d get punched without a doubt. Luna lets out a deep breath before she actually gets to explaining.

“It seemed like the loop was going the same as usual, it didn’t really seem like anything abnormal had happened. Not like that one time when the faceless man was in my backyard for no reason at all. I was getting ready to try to sleep after having a bottle of UFO syrup soda as I usually do when I heard a knock on my door. I didn’t answer it but I looked out the doorhole and saw a cop. I locked it and then I glanced out my backdoor window and guess what I saw? If you guessed another cop you’d be right! With both of them out there I didn’t really want to stay at my house so I opened a window on the side of the house and jumped out… but one of them followed me. Then I messaged you and well, you know what happened from there.” 

“I’m glad you’re alright, but why didn’t you text me earlier?”

“Because I didn’t realize I was being followed until I had taken that photo I sent you!” 

“Where were you going to even go?”

“I don’t know. The school, Kataya’s house? Anywhere that wasn’t there. And now I’m here so it doesn’t matter anymore!”

She takes a big swig of her soda after saying that. He supposed that she was right, it really didn’t matter anymore, now that she was safe from harm and away from them. The room then goes quiet, save for the sounds of the soda fizzing as it’s moved to their lips. “Say Jamie…” Luna breaks the silence, head tilted slightly as she sets a now empty bottle of soda onto the ground (with the cap on so that the few droplets that may have been left in the bottle wouldn’t spill onto the floor of course). “Yeah, what is it?” He replies, finishing the last drops of his own bottle of soda. 

“You’ve gone through a lot of loops right? Too many to count... I’ve noticed some weird things happening at the beginning of the loops that I’ve been through recently but was this sort of thing normal? Or…” He drops the bottle on the floor as he hears her question. “I uh, yeah… Some weird things did happen during the loops. It didn’t always happen but when it did it was hard to forget.” Her eyes go wide as he answers, “Like what? Could it give us any sort of clues?” He shakes his head. “I don’t really think so… and I could tell you but it wouldn’t be easy.” Luna scoffs, confidently placing a hand on her hip. “With all the things I’ve already seen I think I can handle it.” She would then respond. 

“It’s not something that you really would want to know.”

“But I do want to know! No, I _need_ to for research’s sake! I can handle it Jamie!”

Jamie signs, tightly grabbing his bed sheet. This wasn’t something he really planned on telling anybody -- let alone her of all people. “I don’t have enough time to talk to you about all of the things I’ve seen but… the one that hit the hardest, well…” He takes a long pause, “Remember what happened to Katya? When we went through the loop again but she didn’t make it? Or how Patricia was slime in the first loop but not the second? I’ve seen that sort of thing happen to you too Luna, and there were times where I’d try to stop it but I just… couldn’t. I’ve seen you disappear in front of my own eyes. I’ve had to go through loops you were already gone from the beginning. But I’d just have to trek on hoping that you would still come back next time. I had no way to know how many times I could loop before I lost you for good.” 

================

**(LUNA'S POV)**

Once Jamie finished speaking, he clearly looked like he was about to cry. Of all the time that Luna’s known him, she’s never seen him cry. Even though she asked on the guise that it was for research's sake, part of the reason she asked was because of her own curiosity. But that’s what they meant by curiosity killed the cat, huh? She regretted asking now, not just because she dug up old wounds for him, but knowing that other versions of herself had died, and not just from Jamie going through a loop… it was a lot. 

“I’m sorry I asked.” 

Jamie doesn’t say anything at first, he doesn't even turn to look at her. He just sits there, looking at his lap, hands gripping the bed sheets tightly. Luna moves her hand towards him hesitantly, inching it closer and further away from his before finally placing her hand on top of his and giving it a gentle squeeze. It felt strange to her. She had punched him more times then she could remember, she’d accidentally fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. Did it feel strange because they were alone maybe? Rather than at the club where Kataya or Patricia were around they were alone in his house, on his bed... 

Huh, thinking about it that way it really wasn’t too surprising that something like this would feel strange to her. Luna can feel Jamie’s grip on the bed sheets loosen, he shifts it a little and gives her hand a gentle squeeze. He quickly dries his eyes with the free hand. “It’s okay. I’m okay, what I saw there isn’t real anymore…” He replies. It almost sounds like he’s trying to convince himself more than he’s trying to convince her. Luna could only imagine how hard it was for him, she still felt awful about the one time they left Kataya in a past loop, quite literally causing her to turn to dust. “You’re right! Because here I am alive, fleshy and not brainwashed!” She lets out a light laugh, he seems to let out a chuckle of his own, too. 

“So, do you have any good memories from past loops?” She asks somewhat awkwardly, trying to change the subject to something a little less grim and possibly lift his spirits some. “I do, but they’re all from the ones that you looped with me.” He’s quick to respond, if not for what she said earlier, she would have punched him for that. Instead she just rolls her eyes, and responds with a cheeky: “that’s really cheesy you know, you can’t say things like you’re some manga protagonist.” But then again, with how their world was turned upside down with these loops he might as well be. “Well you asked for good memories. As long as I know that you’re -- I mean, you and the club, are alive and well… that’s good enough for me.” 

“When you say things like that it really makes it hard for me to suppress the urge to punch you.”

“It’s never stopped you before.” 

“Yeah but…” she stops mid sentence. “But what?” He asks soon after. Luna looks down at their hands, neither of them had drawn away yet and it didn’t really seem like either of them wanted to. “I can’t punch you when I’m holding your hand, idiot.” She mumbles the words just loud enough for him to hear. While she did have a free hand… it was not the hand that she usually used when punching. Jamie opens his mouth as if he wants to question her, but he closes it shortly after. It seemed like he had just decided to roll with it, giving her hand a firm squeeze instead. 

Moments like this reminded her of the loop when she became homecoming queen and after dancing with David she ended her night by dancing with Jamie on the sports field to the music playing out of his phone. Sure she had acted like she was sleeping when the picture of them was posted at the time but… they both knew that she wasn’t. Only difference was that this time there wasn’t anybody else to interrupt them, nobody to walk in on them and snap a photo. It was just the two of them, alone together. 

Oh dammit, now she was blushing. Stupid Jamie holding her hand and causing her to think about stupid things like that again. Her gaze flickers from him to their hands and from her brief glances it looked like he was blushing too. Maybe he was thinking the same thing as her? Or maybe he was just trying to proceed with caution so that she didn’t decide to punch him? Luna really couldn’t tell. 

================

**(JAMIE'S POV)**

He really didn’t expect to get this far. Honestly, he didn’t even expect her to grab his hand in the first place, but he certainly wasn’t going to complain about it -- especially when she doesn’t even seem to be in the mood to punch him for his comments. The times where she would let herself be truly vulnerable with him were few and far between. Sure there were moments when he came to her rescue, but he would do that for any of his friends and Luna herself was a naturally strong willed person. 

But to see her like this, even if it was something as simple as being able to hold her hand it felt different. He could only guess that it was because they were alone, there were no prying eyes watching them, no posts publicly being made on twitter for the world to see and reply to. There was no need to play things up or act a scene when they were truly and utterly alone. Jamie was sure that Luna was already well aware of his feelings towards her but as they were right now… he almost wanted to give an honest confession. It may be one of the only times he has to do so. 

“Luna, I… I want to tell you something.” 

“What is it, Jamie?”

“I like you.”

“I... like you too.”

“No, Luna I mean I _like-like_ you.”

“I _know_ what you meant.”

It takes a moment for Jamie to process everything. Did his ears deceive him or did Luna just point blank admit that she liked him too? “Wait, you do?” He sounds surprised when he asks this and that’s because he is. “I do.” Luna’s answer is quick and simple. Jamie looks back up at her, she’s looking away from him, covering her cheek with her free hand. He lets go of the hand that was previously holding hers, instead moving to pull her into a hug. She moves to hug him back not long after. They stay like that long enough that Jamie could feel her heartbeat. 

While he knew that all of the bad end loops he’d seen before were nothing but distant memories, having her in his arms like this really did snap him back into reality. The pain of seeing those he cared about die would never fully go away, even if they were with him now in this loop. But being able to embrace the one he cared about most and feel her heartbeat against his made the pain that much more bearable. Those past loops weren’t real anymore, what was real was what he was experiencing right now with her. To Jamie, there probably wasn’t anything else that could be more comforting than that.

“Is everything okay?” Luna asks. “Yeah, I’m fine, better than ever.” He replies with a smile. “Good, uh -- I’m gonna go grab another bottle of UFO syrup soda and then probably get ready for bed.” She then says, breaking the hug and getting off of the bed. “I can go sleep on the couch if you want the bed.” Jamie replies. “You don’t want to share it? We’ve fallen asleep next to each other before, the only difference is that this time Patricia and Katya aren’t here too. It’s not much different from when we’d spend the night sleeping on the clubroom floor.” She gives a lighthearted laugh and exits the room. 

Luna did have a point, even with their recent confessions sleeping next to each other wasn’t really anything new for them and if she was okay with it then he was too. She returns to his room with two bottles of soda and sits back down next to him, nonchalantly placing her head on his shoulder. “Have you ever said that to any of the other Luna’s, before I was able to loop with you?” She asks. “No, this is the first time. I think it would have been harder confessing my feelings and leaving a version of you to turn to dust if I had.” He takes a short pause to sip from his soda. “If I were to reset without a version of you that could remember all this… it would probably be hard to act normal, yaknow?” It’d be heartbreaking. If a version of her had accepted his feelings and he had to leave her… it would be the worst feeling in the world. “No, yeah that makes sense. I don’t think I could do it if I were you.” Luna takes a short pause of her own to take a sip of her own soda. “I’m glad you were able to tell me now.” She then says, taking hold of his hand once more. 

“We should probably get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Jamie says after a short while, his hand still comfortably nested within hers. “Do you want the outside or inside of the bed?” He asks, letting go of her hand to shut off the lights. “Inside is fine. I don’t mind either way.” Luna responds, she lets out a yawn and is already under the blanket. He looks at her for a moment before laying next to her. Would it be alright to put his arm around her? To pull her just a bit closer to him? Jamie hesitates but ultimately does just that, and it doesn’t seem like Luna really minds at all. He nudges himself ever closer to her and gently kisses her forehead. 

“Goodnight, Luna.”

She opens up an eye and kisses his cheek.

“Goodnight, Jamie.”


End file.
